A day after exit, Thunder begin means of wanting forward
Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder’s Isaiah Hartenstein (55), Aaron Wiggins (21), and Chet Holmgren (7) watch the closing moments of their loss to the San Antonio Spurs in the course of the second half of Sport 7 of the Western Convention finals of the NBA basketball playoffs collection, Saturday, Could 30, 2026, in Oklahoma Metropolis. (AP Photograph/Tony Gutierrez)
OKLAHOMA CITY — Chet Holmgren tried two photographs in Sport 7 of the Western Convention finals. He absorbed loads of photographs from critics afterward.
And the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder spent Day 1 of the offseason making clear that they help him.
If the ballyhooed matchup within the West finals was Holmgren vs. San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama, then it was a one-sided one. Wembanyama had the superior numbers within the collection and the Spurs wound up prevailing, whereas Holmgren was barely an element offensively with the Thunder season on the road Saturday night time.
READ: Wembanyama, Spurs dethrone Thunder in Sport 7 to achieve NBA Finals
“Each minute Chet Holmgren’s been on the crew, we’ve been the 1 seed within the Western Convention,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault mentioned Sunday, when the crew gathered for end-of-season conferences. “And it wasn’t the case earlier than Chet was wholesome.”
Holmgren had probably his greatest season, with career-highs of 17.1 factors and eight.9 rebounds per recreation. He made All-NBA for the primary time, All-Defensive for the primary time as nicely, bought his first All-Star nod, plus was second within the Defensive Participant of the Yr balloting.
He completed second in that voting behind Wembanyama — similar to he did for Rookie of the Yr in 2024, and similar to the Thunder did in these West finals.
“We want Chet. We want Chet Holmgren,” Thunder guard and back-to-back reigning NBA Most Priceless Participant Shai Gilgeous-Alexander mentioned. “Earlier than Chet was right here, we weren’t who we’re at present. We didn’t have the success we had at present. When he’s the very best model of himself, we’re the very best model of ourselves and it’s no secret.”
It’s simple to ascertain the West finals matchup — Thunder vs. Spurs — turning into a rivalry for years to come back. Each groups have younger, clearly extremely proficient corps, and now they’ve the ingredient that each one rivalries really want, that being a playoff matchup, to assist present gasoline.
READ: NBA: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander suggestions his cap after Sport 7 loss
“I undoubtedly suppose that they’re completely different by way of I don’t suppose there’s one other crew that has their play model, their personnel,” Holmgren mentioned. “They’re distinctive in that manner. You may’t simply type of play like a base regular, ‘that is what we type of do on a median Tuesday night time’ kind of factor.”
And whereas the skin world may need checked out Holmgren as one of many the explanation why Sport 7 didn’t go Oklahoma Metropolis’s manner, the remainder of the Thunder disagreed.
Gilgeous-Alexander, for instance, pointed to himself — and that was after he had a superb 35-point effort within the deciding recreation towards San Antonio. He even went so far as to explain a second straight MVP season as “a failure.”
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“I failed at my objective,” Gilgeous-Alexander mentioned. “I didn’t obtain what I wished to realize, however by my experiences, I discovered essentially the most about myself and I make the best quantity of will increase I’ve in my profession once I fail at my objective and don’t get what I need. And I have a look at this no completely different. I didn’t get the place I wished to go this season. There’s a cause for that. Now I’ve to take a look at that cause and take a look at to verify it by no means occurs once more.”
